Overthinking, Thinking about Thinking…

I previously wrote this article and while I was writing that I was wondering do I think to much? Am I thinking about thinking? Welcome to over-thinking…

Does your brain go at 1 million miles per hour bouncing between one thought and the next? Over thinking is a common issue these days and most of us do not even know we have it, fortunately I have the cure “Everyone once in a while look out the f*****g Window”

A cat looking out the window, as why not!

I have actually been thinking probably over thinking on posting this blog since my girlfriend was in the hospital about to give birth to our first born which was 3 months ago now and in classic tradition my mind was wandering. At first glance that may seem a bad trait, yet reading Adrian Newey’s book “how to build a car” over Xmas I could relate a lot to the great F1 designer, he had a passion and he could not switch it off, and it was often in times of relative surprise he found answers to his most challenging design problems.

Now far be it from me on this blog to write above my station, yet I do genuinely suffer from overthinking, a small tiny detail can keep me awake at night and it will not go away until my brain has cycled every possibility of what that detail was. Sometimes to my amazement I actually get the answer. Back to my point look out the f*****g window!

I can only relate to my role and industry but I digest so much information on a daily basis, deal with so many different scenarios that I am mostly a passenger, and then in the evening a little thought comes to the front of my mind asking “Were you correct there?”

Some claim over thinkers are in secure or not good at their role, I highly question that, without reflection and overthinking how do you improve? The suggestion of others constantly? A vital part of pre-sales is to question yourself and if you do not then frankly your doing it wrong.

Constant rumination could be a sign of intelligence.

Its actually a good thing, see I told you….if you think a lot it means you do not switch off and think about what is going on

While this is frustrating at times lay staring at the ceiling or staring at my phone blankly I can tell you this is also a gift! If you do not question / analyze what you have acted on then you will never know if that was correct until someone corrects you.

Some science: Meta-cognition is the ability to think about thinking, and while that may sound crazy let me give you a real world example. “A lack of meta-cognition sets up a vicious loop in which people who do not know much about a subject, do not know when they are in over their head” This is a dangerous trait and one you should avoid.

I read this in Micheal Hayden’s latest book “The assault on intelligence”. The book is in reference mostly to Mr Trump, in which he reveals Mr Trump is dangerous as he does not appear to have meta-cognition, just watch some videos of him! So thinking about thinking is actually a thing!

This now may explain the image at the top of this post

I should note I am not a political person, I just found it interesting in Hayden’s book on Trump and it kind of related, and well its Trump!

In the world or a pre-sales engineer you are hit with a barrage of tasks on a daily basis, its easy to become swamped, become frustrated, voice concern, shout, hit your desk, scream that someones software , solution, proposal, all of the above is rubbish yet I have found the answer for the over thinkers out there, you guessed it, look out the f*****g window.

Over-thinker’s by the way are some of the smartest and successful people, it just needs to be harnessed for a healthy brain life, exercise, take a break, see friends, have a work life balance, switch off before bed, throw your phone away………….whats-app can wait believe me it doesn’t care and if you respond you will be in a tangle of msgs which will last until midnight.

Serious note, if you have read this and relate to it, over thinking leads to stress, digestive problems and high blood pressure get it under control, de-tune let Donald Trump run twitter for a while and you know what, Trump will be still news in the morning, It is about discipline, go back to basics remove all distractions, Instagram, Facebook, email, whats-app, twitter etc they will not help.

While over-thinking is great, balance is better, just now I am on a train to London and I have spent almost an hour reading a book (assault on intelligence) and starring out the window when I thought I should write this as it seemed an apt point. Finally to that point if I was asked what a good trait is of a pre-sales engineer I would state “Must be an over-thinker but enjoy looking out the f*****g window”